Introduction to YQL for Open Hack Taiwan 2012

2. YQL
Cody Schwebke
Yahoo!

3. DATA
http://www.flickr.com/photos/parkerblohm/6190781865/

4. (DATA) SILOS
http://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/5500714140/

5. THE INTERNET
http://www.flickr.com/photos/danndalf/3534506071/

6. APPLICATION PLUMBING
http://www.flickr.com/photos/russmorris/2713018257/

7. Y(AHOO!) Q(UERY) L(ANGUAGE)
 SQL-like syntax
 Query, filter, and join
across data sources
 Not limited to Yahoo!
services
 Easy to use web console
and table editor
 Create custom tables
with your own server-
side logic using the
JavaScript execute
environment

8. YQL, CONT’D
 Compatible
 Accepts XML, JSON, CSV
 Returns XML, JSON, JSON-P
 High Performance
 Deployed around the globe
 Front and Back facing caches
 99.5%+ performance uptime target
 Rate-limited
 /v1/public/* - 2,000 requests/hour per IP
 /v1/yql/* - 20,000 requests/hour per IP
 Per application limit (identified by your Access Key):
100,000 requests/day

9. QUERY SYNTAX
 Select {what} from {service} where {condition}
 Supports Select, Insert, Update, Delete
 Supports Joining with sub-selects
 Includes helper functions (sort, reverse, unique)
 Uses ‘|’ symbol

10. CONSOLE

11. CONSOLE OPTIONS
Create alias
Output type selection Toggle diagnostics and debug
modes
REST query

12. REST QUERY

13. COMMUNITY TABLES

14. COMMUNITY TABLES
151 community tables
Everything from flickr to
weather
Click desc for more
information on each table

15. FEED (RSS AGGREGATOR)

16. FEED, CONT’D

17. HTML

18. FLICKR
Get a Flickr API key:
http://www.flickr.com/services/apps/create/apply

19. FLICKR TEXT SEARCH

20. FLICKR TEXT SEARCH, CONT’D

21. FLICKR LOCATION SEARCH

22. LOCATION-BASED WEATHER

23. BUILD YOUR OWN TABLE

24. 4 STEPS TO BUILD YOUR OWN TABLE
1. Define your table’s properties
2. Implement custom logic using JavaScript
execute
3. Save your table to our servers
4. Call your new table from your application

25. PIG LATIN
• A language game played with the English
language
• Popular with elementary school students
• Simple, algorithmic conversion
• pig = igpay
• computer = omputercay
• another = another-way

26. YQL EDITOR
Click here

27. STEP 1

28. STEP 1, CONT’D Optional meta
data
Table inputs
Path to repeating Custom JavaScript
response items include

29. STEP 2
Table inputs
Execute a sub-query
“Lossless” JSON mode
E4X – XML for
JavaScript

30. STEP 3
Click me!
Reference keys

31. STEP 3.5, TEST IN CONSOLE
Execute key

32. STEP 4

33. END RESULT

34. RECAP – BUILDING A HACK WITH YQL
 Pick your data source
 Mix and match community tables in the console
 Build new a table if needed in the editor and test
in the console
 Use YUI-YQL module to get data
 Or just call the REST query endpoint

35. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
 Docs
 http://developer.yahoo.com/yql/guide/
 http://yuilibrary.com/yui/docs/yql/
 Community
 http://www.yqlblog.net/
 http://www.datatables.org/
 http://github.com/yql/yql-tables
 E4X
 https://developer.mozilla.org/en-
US/docs/E4X/Processing_XML_with_E4X

36. QUESTIONS?